Deep Memories
by Droiture LeReve
Summary: A sequel to Through Juice's Eyes. We now see life through Scooter's eyes, as the sixteen year old finds comfort in odd places and goes through life wondering why his beloved family had to leave him. Living with Shadow as a guardian isn't easy, you know.
1. Lock and Key

Note: Ah, sequels. They haunt me so. Well, this overwhelming urge to make a sequel clouded my better judgment. I'd be typing up my original novel, Between the Lines, but I let my friend borrow the rough draft. Ah, well. She's trustworthy, I'm sure it'll all come back in one piece.

Anyway! I own nothing, but my plot and own original characters. Anything else belongs to SEGA. Someday, I swear to God, I'm gonna work at SEGA, and then this disclaimer will not be necessary, because I will WORK for the company that owns them, which is kind of like... ah, just forget it and get to the story...

Chapter One: Lock and Key

A knocking on my door. The same rough, harsh knocks that await me every morning, accompanied by a deep, rough, "Get out of bed before I Chaos Control you out of it myself!"

Five... Four... Three... Two... One...

"Get out of bed before I Chaos Control you out of it myself!"

He's really in the same rut every morning, isn't he?

However, I can't refuse, and roll out of bed anyway. Grumbling as I do so, yes, but I do.

Well, what do you expect me to do? Just lay there? I'd be going to school with the stink of Chaos in my fur.

So I go downstairs to my usual breakfast of overcooked toast. Oh, Uncle Shadow, haven't you figured out the toaster by _now? _

But it's the usual routine every morning. Uncle Shadow threatens me to come downstairs, then I eat breakfast, then I get a radioactively-glowing backpack shoved into my arms.

Why is it radioactively-glowing? Because Uncle Shadow moved it with Chaos Control while he was off doing other things.

You know, I noticed Uncle Shadow never looks me in the eyes anymore. I really wonder why, considering we're the only two living creatures in the house besides my pet fish, and Uncle Shadow loves pet fish.

"They don't whine for attention, they don't make annoying noises, you don't have to walk them, they don't eat a lot, and they don't pee on your carpet. What more could you want in a pet?" he once said.

But Uncle Shadow never looks me in the eyes anymore.

Well, not today. I don't care if I miss my bus today. School's only full of bullies and jocks and angry, underpaid teachers.

"Uncle Shadow?"

"Hmm?"

That's the only answer I get. I suspect that's the only answer I'll ever get. He's hunched over a machine with a mask on, and a blowtorch blazing in his left hand. He's welding something together, but I can't see what. I'd hazard it's pretty small, otherwise I'd be able to see it. I try looking over his shoulder to get a glimpse, but I only noticed a glimmer of something golden before Shadow turns, and, without looking me in the eyes (or is he? I can't tell, he's still got the blast mask down), says,

"What do you _want? _Your bus is _leaving, _Scooter. Go."

"I noticed you've been working pretty hard lately, have you ever considered taking a day off?"

Uncle Shadow sighs and puts down the torch and flips his mask up.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I promised myself I'd get this done."

"You will, you just need to take a quick break. A day or two."

"Didn't you hear me? I _can't!" _He snaps.

I suddenly find myself at school in the blink of an eye and a flash of green light.

Fan-freaking-tastic. He's Chaos Controlled me to school again. I hear the snickering of my friends behind my back and I turn to them, my emerald eyes blazing.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Except..." Julie starts, giggling like the air-headed bimbo she is. The only reason I hang around her is because she's going out with Marcus, and he's one of my buds.

"What?"

"Your pants are still on fire."

I look behind me and sure enough, the seat of my pants was aflame with green fire, the kind that doesn't burn but instead just publicly humiliates you.

Fan-freaking-tastic. I grab my school I.D. and my pencil out of my bag and clip them together before slinging them around my neck. Then I forcefully send myself reeling backwards into the dirt to put out the flame, and luckily it works. Sometimes it doesn't and I have to go the nurse for a fire extinguisher. That poor woman knows me by name now.

I stand back up, and dust the dirt off my butt.

"Sorry about that. Uncle Shadow's been really distant lately. He'll barely even talk to me." I say.

"I'm sorry. Sadness for Scooter." Nichole says sweetly, petting my head. She does that to anyone she feels bad for. It's a thing for her. She'll say "Sadness." and pet your head. It's her meat-headed way of making you feel better.

Well, I can't lie, she's really nice and it does make me feel better. No, you perverts, I do not have a crush on her. Granted, I also don't have a girlfriend, but it's alright. No one really wants to date the nerdy son of a dead super-hero.

I look just like my father, except I hunch when I walk, and I wear glasses. Not big, Coke-bottle glasses, but small ones with semi-trendy frames. I also have a more distant personality than what my father had. At least, Uncle Shadow's recollections of him. I was only eight when he died. People think I don't remember, but truth is I do. I remember that my older brother died the same day.

I remember so clearly it's eerie.

_"Oh God... Not now!"_

_"Brother...?"_

_"Scooter, go! I... AHHHHHHH!!" _

_There was fire... his eyes turned solid white, like he was blind..._

_His skin blistered from his bones and burned away..._

_Machines were exploding..._

_Tubes broke and spilled their contents all over..._

_A blast of solid crystal came shooting out of his open mouth like dragon's fire..._

_Doctors and nurses came rushing in, and could only strap him down..._

_Inject a needle into his arm..._

_His face contorted into a gruesome, hideous, grotesque mask of bubbling flesh and explosions..._

_Uncle Shadow pulled me from the room before a final burst of crystal flame came shooting from the door..._

"Hey... HEY! Scooter! Is anybody in there? The bell rang!"

I snap from my memory and look into the dull jade of Webster's eyes. Webster is a buddy of mine. He's bright orange, like fire...

But enough of my angst-ridden life.

I follow Webster into the building and don't look back...

But...

I thought I had that memory locked away, so why...

Why am I remembering it now? I heard everything as if it were happening...

Oh God, why now?


	2. Absolution

Note: Don't own Sonic, just my characters and this plot. Sorry, SEGA, even if you did sue me, you'd get nothing but a bottle of lotion and a little stuffed bunny.

Chapter Two: Absolution

It's so _weird. _I guess _I'm _so weird. I went on another one of my memory-trips during lunch, and now I'm sitting in the damned school shrink's office, "talking about my feelings". I don't need a shrink! Just because I was forced at a young age to watch my older brother consume himself in pyrokinetic flames and shards of crystal while the guy who killed my father took me home to live with him doesn't mean I'm crazy.

Oh, wait.

_Damn it. _

"So, Scooter, why do _you _think you're so upset?"

"Gee, lady, I dunno. Was it because my older brother was a telekinetic who consumed himself in flames or is it because I'm currently dwelling with the man who beat my father to death? I wonder." I reply sarcastically.

"Now, now, those kinds of feelings exhume negative energy, Scooter. We're trying to imbue positive energy in you!"

This woman needs medication.

Lots of medication.

She's a middle-aged woman, about forty pounds overweight, she looks overly happy and more than a little slutty. Her lips are glowing with blood-red paint, her nails painted the same color, only chipping in places, her hair up in the fakest-looking bumblebee hive hairdo I've ever seen. It's the most false-looking blonde I've ever seen, like she took an old wig and painted it screaming canary yellow. Her legs wore an old, stretched pair of fishnet stockings, badly worn and with large tears in various places. Her ugly, acid-green, polyester-and-PVC suit (with matching heels, how nice...) screams "Fashion Disaster" like a neon sign, and those gross horn-rimmed glasses of hers don't help either. She's got makeup caked on her face so thick you could stab her in the face with a knife as hard as you possibly could and not even scratch the flesh underneath. She reeks of old-person perfume and the weird, gross smell of liquid makeup. She's got rouge dabbed so thick on her cheeks she looks like she painted them with the same blood she used to paint her lips and nails. Worst of all, (and probably the most offensive part of her yet), she's wearing a headband with puppy ears on it, probably her retarded way of trying to fit in with the anthros at Station Square South High.

She's _hideous._

_Absolutely_ hideous.

"Positive energy my ass." I say bluntly. I grab my school bag and sling it over one shoulder as I turn to leave, but her hideous fat hand, covered in ugly little rings and other baubles, grabs my arm and sits me back down.

"Now, now, Scooter, these are the kinds of feelings we're trying to get rid of. Now tell me, what do you see in this right here?"

She holds up an ink blot to my face. Or what would be an ink blot, had there been any, y'know, _ink on it. _

There's nothing on it.

It's _blank. _

Fucking _blank._

"It's blank. There's nothing _on that paper."_

Is this woman stupid?

"No, there is something there. Look closer."

She's practically shoving her clipboard up my nose. I'm about to shove it up her ass in a second.

"Listen, lady, there's nothing on the frigging paper! It's a goddamn blank piece of goddamn paper, and if you don't get your goddamn clipboard out of my face it's going so far up your ass you'll be pukin' up wood chips!" I snap, and swat the clipboard out of her hands. It lands with a sharp _thunk _against the back wall, where it imbeds into the plaster and now there's a clipboard stuck in the wall.

I'm not done, yet, dammit.

"And another thing! You think you have all the answers, dontcha, lady? Well, let me tell you something. The affairs of hedgehogs and the affairs of humans aren't to be mixed, and you're not going to be the catalyst that mixes them. In case you haven't noticed, I'm the son of Sonic Hedgehog, and that means I inherited a few genes from good ol' Dad's side of the family. One being super-speed. Therefore, I can run you into road pizza before you can even shit yourself! I'm not crazy, I don't need a shrink, I'm just a messed-up ball of spiny hate because I'm a teenager, and one who just so _happens _to be all alone in this world. Goddammit, I watched both my father and older brother _die in front of me! My older brother consumed himself in flames! He took half of Station Square Mass General with him!_"

I think I scared her.

Good.

"W-w-well, Scooter, I was only trying to do a-a-a psyche analysis, and to see what was--" She's crying. There are tear streaks marring her makeup and washing away some of her scarlet rouge, and the sad part is, it actually improves her appearance.

"What was _wrong _with me? What _my _problem is? Maybe you should be doing a psyche analysis on the _rest of the world, _because it's _them _who seem to have a problem with _me!" _I screech as a final word. I whip off my glasses in my rage and they shatter on the floor, and, forgetting that I'm nearly blind without them (frigging stupid me), I'm walking right over them and kicking open the door the wrong way, and it breaks right off its damned hinges, and impacts with the opposing wall with a loud, thunderous _BANG! _that shattered the glass window and broke the door itself in two.

I have to get home, so I rev my feet as fast as I can and run home, bursting through the front door.

This startles Uncle Shadow, who jumps up from the couch with a shocked yelp and lands on his ass on the floor.

"Scooter? W-what are you doing home so early?"

"I can't take it anymore, dammit! I'll be in my room, don't bother me until dinner."

Stalking up the stairs... gotta keep stalking like I'm mad until I get through the door...

Just a little closer...

Through the door...

Door closes...

And I collapse, weeping on the bed, like a scared child.

Dammit, Scooter, remember what Dad said! Big boys don't cry.

I can't help it. All my memories and all my pain just came rushing back to me in a single moment.

"Scooter?"

Whoa. When did Uncle Shadow get there? I didn't hear him come in. I would have noticed if he warped in. Even through my pillow, a giant flash of lime-green light is hard to miss.

"What, ok? What? Can't you just leave me alone? You seemed to have no trouble with it before! Just go away and work on your stupid machine. Forget about the stupid kid crying up here, he'll be fine without a guardian to look after him, just like he always was! It's the same rut every day and I'm sick of it! I just exploded half a classroom and I'm not going back. Just leave me be up here!"

I hear a shuffle of feet and I know that Uncle Shadow has not left, but instead has merely moved back a couple of feet.

"Scooter, I'm not going to do that. I realized you were right. I have been neglecting you lately and I apologize. It's just... You're growing up so fast on me, and me being immortal, it's hard. Hard to see you grow and turn into the spitting image of your father, who died because I was too weak to hold in my rage. Don't let my mistake become yours, Scooter."

Silence fills the small room.

An eerie silence.

Ok, someone needs to talk, or I'm gonna go nuts.

"I won't."

More silence.

"Scooter, did you just say you exploded half a classroom?"

"Yeah, well, I got lost in a memory, and ended up in the school shrink's office, and she kept blathering on and on about 'positive energy' and tried to stick a blank piece of paper in my face saying there was an ink blot on it. I snapped, started screaming at her, kicked the door down, and ran home."

"Maybe you should have listened. I'm sensing a powerful negative aura coming from you..."

"Oh, not you too! How could _you _know anything about _me?"_

"Honey, ah am Shadow da Hedgehog." Uncle Shadow jokes, snapping his fingers and using a stereotypical 'ghetto' accent to try and make me laugh.

It works, it has to be said. I've never heard Uncle Shadow say the word "honey" without his mouth full of toast before.

We laugh and joke late into the night.


	3. Trapped in Misery

Note: I'm on April Vacation, dudes. Expect a lot of updates.

I own nothing of Sonic the Hedgehog, only my original characters, my plot, and my brain.

Chapter Three: Trapped in Misery

It's ten AM and I'm just waking up now. It's a Thursday. Well, by now it's safe to say I'm not going back to South High ever again. Not after the way I completely destroyed the shrink's office and left a flaming trail of footprints in the hallway. I doubt I'd even be allowed on the premises at this point.

Oh, and I smell burning eggs once again.

"Aw, Uncle Shadow..."

So I get up and head downstairs to the sound of the blaring smoke alarm and rough coughing in the kitchen.

Smooth, Uncle. Real smooth. Make yourself sound even more like a chain-smoker.

"Quiet, you!"

Oh crap, I said that out loud.

"Help me with this!"

"Alright, alright..."

It helps to have a fire extinguisher, you know...

Not that _we _have one...

Which makes things rather difficult, as I'm currently choking on smoke and the rancid smell of burnt eggs.

So I'm doing the only thing I can think of, and just spraying water on it.

And it's not helping, instead just serving to steam up and hiss, adding an oxygen base for...

Oh, _crap._

No, let me reiterate.

_Oh, holy mother of shit on a sandwich._

"RUN!" Uncle Shadow screeches.

Luckily, we've both made it out of the house before the fire department arrives.

Media, the neighbors crowding, ambulances, the whole kit-n-caboodle.

Damn, that media lady knows me...

"Aren't you Scooter Hedgehog, the very same that stormed from South High yesterday, leaving a trail of flame in your wake?"

"Maybe. You lookin' to find out, lady?"

"Scooter, calm down. It's not worth it to threaten the camera." Uncle Shadow drags me off, only to be stopped by that woman again.

"Are you curious to know what your public thinks?"

"Are you curious as to how that microphone would taste?" I retort sharply, grabbing said item from her hand and swiping at her face with it.

She dodges. Damn it!

The fireman comes up to Uncle Shadow.

"Well, the fire's out. What happened?"

"Breakfast incident." Uncle Shadow replies, mumbling.

The fireman (a human, therefore about twice as tall as Uncle Shadow), pats Uncle Shadow on the head hard and laughs, sending the guy reeling to the floor.

Well, that has to hurt.

Uh-oh, he's got the evil look going. I don't like that look.

"Well, might I suggest the microwave next time?" The fireman adds before leaving. I have to physically restrain Uncle Shadow from pulling out his gun from God-only-knows-where and shooting the guy in the head.

He keeps guns seemingly in some sort of hammerspace. He can pull a gun the size of himself from nowhere. Up his ass, maybe? Nah, it wouldn't fit, not along with that stick that's been up there for fifty-something years.

So I drop the microphone (which I still have in my hand... hmm) and just walk away, Shadow following.

Now we're homeless. Fan-freaking-tastic.

I hope Uncle Tails has room in the workshop, 'cause that's apparently where we're goin'.


	4. Holy Flaming Cheese!

Note: Yep. Chapter four on its way.

Chapter Four: Holy Flaming Cheese!

_Ding-Dong! _

Uncle Shadow jabs the doorbell hard with his index finger, almost breaking it.

There's no answer. He jabs the doorbell a few more times.

_Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong!_

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!"

Uncle Tails opens the door.

He's covered in oil and transmission fluid and God only knows what else.

"Hey Shadow. Scooter. Come on in. What's up?"

Uncle Shadow explains the situation, half-mumbling in embarrassment.

"Well, sure, you guys can stay here for a while. Just, y'know... stay away from my oven." Uncle Tails jokes, grinning.

Uncle Shadow rolls his eyes and groans at the lame joke.

I don't blame him. It was pretty lame, after all.

So now we've got our things in a room. Yeah, now we have to share a room. Fan-freaking-tastic. Do you _know _how much Uncle Shadow _snores? _He sounds like a fan-freaking-tastic _lawnmower. _A _broken _lawnmower. You know, one of those ones with the broken muffler thingy so it's extra-loud and shoots toxic exhaust into the air?

Yeah, I'm an environmentalist. Sue me. I don't like things that harm the environment. That's why you'll see me going around school with a biodegradable water bottle and a 100 percent recycled paper notebook.

That is, if I still went to school.

Ouch!

"Quit spacing, Scooter, and unpack your stuff." Uncle Shadow picks the hairbrush he threw at me out of my hair. It had connected with my skull and stuck in my quills.

I grumble as I unpack.

"Agh... Dammit! Ouch!"

"Watch that mouth of yours, Scooter." Uncle Shadow comments idly.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that, as soon as I dislodge my sleeve from this random broken tack in my suitcase."

"And that attitude. Watch that, or you're getting a Chaos Spear where the sun don't shine."

"Which is what, all of me?" I joke, as I spend as much time as humanly (or hedgehoggedly) possible indoors and far _away _from any semblance of sunlight.

"Watch it, you!" Uncle Shadow chucks the brush at me again, but I catch it with my free hand and hurl it back at him, hard enough that it lands with a loud _TING _in the wall behind him and sticks there, handle in the wall like a missile.

"Whoa. You've got quite the arm there."

I snap my head up to see Uncle Tails studying my throwing skills interestedly.

"Thanks. It seems to come in handy when I get angry. Must have got it from my mother, Dad could never throw like that." I comment distantly, shoving some random underpants in a drawer.

Damn tack ripped my sleeve. This is my favorite shirt, dammit!

"I actually noticed you're growing a little fringe of brown hair on you, there, Scoot." I take a quick peek in the mirror and confirm Uncle Tails' observation with a noncommittal sound.

"Mm, he's growing wings too." Uncle Shadow points out, poking at my vestigial batlike wings on my back, with a second pair of fluffy little raven-like wings below. I had to cut holes in all my shirts so they could flap and breathe without constricting me.

My mother was some sort of hybrid bat-hedgehog-weasel-raven-human-scorpion-wolf-alien-y thing. Oh, like I know what to call it! Shut up. As I was saying, she had features from many, many different animals and creatures, through generations upon generations of breeding between species. She was beautiful, from what I've been told (as she died when I was like, two or three or something), and could use all her features to her advantage. Up until I was about fourteen I didn't exhibit any of her traits but last year I started growing wings and brown hair. I usually kept them hidden under my clothes and a hat, which is why you nice people listening to me yammer on have never heard about them until now. But then my wings got too big and my hair got too long. I have this strange, irrational fear of sharp objects coming anywhere near my head. I've never gotten a haircut in my life. Uncle Shadow says it's a form of Aichmophobia, which is the fear of needles or pointed objects. That's great, now what's the one for specifically _fear of pointy things near my soft and delicate skull? _

But yeah, I kept them under my clothes and stuff. Made myself look _just like my dad, _cause God knows he was _just so cool! _

Don't want my friends thinking I'm a freak or anything. Ha! Being the son of Sonic the Hedgehog, being able to run at twice the speed of _sound, _being able to throw things hard enough to _shatter walls,_ and let's not forget the big one, _being bright freaking blue, _oh no, I'm perfectly freaking normal.

I smack Uncle Shadow's hand away.

"Would you both quit noticing my physical features for a minute and leave me alone? Angsty teenage boy trying to unpack a suitcase, here." I snap. I push my glasses up higher on my nose and give them both an emerald death glare of teenagery doom.

Uncle Shadow slaps me in the back of the head. "Watch the attitude, you."

Ow. So you know what I'm gonna do now? Yeah.

"Scooter, you little--"

I smacked _him _in _his _big, stupid, black-and-red-quilled head.

"That's what you get for smacking a teenage boy, Uncle Shadow. You get smacked right back. You wanna try that again?"

"Oh, _you _just made a _big mistake, _you little brat!"

Uncle Tails pushes us apart and says, "You know, why don't you stay with me for a while, Scooter? Come on, I'll show you the new part to my biplane I'm working on."

He yanks me from the room hard, slamming the door before Uncle Shadow has a chance to use Chaos Spear.

We even heard him scream, "_Disappear!" _as soon as we shut the door, and we heard a series of loud THUNKS against the door.

"You wanna try that again Uncle? Maybe this time you can actually try to aim for me, you blind old geezer!" I call as I'm being dragged off.

"Scooter, seriously, calm down." Uncle Tails scolds.

"No!"

Uncle Tails wraps one of his incredibly handy and useful tails around my mouth and the other around my wrist to drag me along.

So now I'm making a muffled set of cursing noises, or at least it would be loud cursing if I didn't have a large, fluffy, yellow tail in my mouth. A tail covered in transmission fluid, which, you have to imagine, tastes pretty damn nasty.

The next long while is going to be pure hell.


	5. Shit on a Sandwich

Note: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, only my OC's: Juice, Scooter, and their mother (who will remain unnamed until I can think of a good enough name for her. In other franchises I have named her Maria, but this is Sonic, you see, and there already IS a Maria to contend with, so I was thinking either Engel or Kaitlyn.)

Chapter Five: Shit on a Sandwich

So Uncle Tails has me working in his lab with him as punishment for his broken wall and busted door.

Since, y'know, it was my fault and all...

Shut up, conscience. You don't do me any good.

"Scooter, hand me that six-gauge adjustable dual-ended plasma ratchet?"

"The what?"

"The_ wrench. _Hand me the frigging _wrench." _

"Oh." I hand him the oddly-glowing wrench (looks like it's made of some weird blue water stuff, with an odd red glow around the edges of the blue). He snaps it from my hand and slides back underneath the biplane (which still has, in bright red chipping paint, the word SONIC painted across the side), and I hear loud, vortex-y noises, like a cross between _veeeerrrrmmmpppp _and _rrreeeaaaaarrrrrmmmmmvvvvvmmmmm. _

Sh... shut up. I'm sixteen.

"Scooter. Go to the kitchen and bring back the following items. The swiss-army knife, the spark-torch, the propane tank, and a plate of chicken wings.."

"Chicken wings?"

"I get hungry working under here all day! Go."

I roll my eyes but go and retrieve the items requested.

What a dork Uncle Tails can be, y'know?

I place the plate on a side table and immediately see a deft hand snap out from the dark shadowed depths and snap up a chicken wing and snap it back into the darkness, hear a few chewing sounds, a slurp, and the hand snaps back out again to deposit the clean bone back onto the plate.

He then snaps up the swiss-army knife from my hand, and more ratcheting sounds are heard.

I decide to sit back and get lost in my own head.

_"Hey big brother! Look what I made!"_

_"Whoa. Not bad, little bro! You're pretty good!"_

_"Thanks!"_

_"Hey Dad, come see what Scooter made! It's pretty neat!"_

_A sudden morph in time..._

_"What? You're shitting me, aren't you? You're fucking with my head. No! No, it's not possible! Fucking hell!" _

_"Brother?"_

_"Scooter, come on. We need to get to the hospital as fast as we can. Dad's hurt, real bad. The doctor says he might not make it."_

_"Daddy!"_

_"Yeah. Come on."_

_The scene shifts..._

_"Scooter... I don't know exactly how to tell you this... Aaa... aaaah... AHHH!! NO!!"_

_"Brother!"_

_"JUST RUN!! AHHHHH!!"_

"Scooter! Snap out of it!"

My head snaps back to reality as Uncle Tails waves a concerned hand in front of my face.

"Earth to Scooter! Come in, Scooter."

"Shut up..."

"And he lives! You spaced out there for a minute, are you alright? You look like you're about to cry."

I wipe away a stray tear. "I'm fine." I lie.

His eyes were so blank... so white... he'd gone blind from the use of his power...

His power sucked up the energy needed to keep his senses running.

His last few moments must have been sheer hell for him.

"Psychokinesis..."

"What?"

"What, what?"

"You said 'psychokinesis'."

"I did?"

I didn't even realize I'd said anything, oops! Hehehe...

"It's nothing. Just... leave me alone."

Uncle Tails sat down beside me.

"Is this about what happened to your brother?"

"No." I lie again.

"You're a horrible liar, Scooter. Tell me the truth."

"Fine. You want the truth? You want the whole goddamn truth? The truth is I'm a hate-filled, sociophobic, amalgamic, chaotic, angst-ridden, guilt-tripping, messed-up-in-the-frigging-head teenager. Ok? There's your goddamn truth. Now I'm going to bed. Leave me the _fuck alone." _

And what's odd is I say that all in the calmest, most indifferent voice possible.

I don't stick around long enough to hear Uncle Tails' answer, though I catch a faint, distant "Hey!" before I slam my bedroom door, forgetting that it was still half-broken from Uncle Shadow's little assault. It breaks in two, the shattered wood splintering and falling to the floor.

Wh-what?

Why can't I see?

Am I blind?

I can't... I can't hear!

It's like I'm floating in nothing...

Is this what Juice felt before he died?

Oh, God, please! I don't want to die!

God, I can't see! I can't see! Even with my glasses, I can't see!

Daddy, help me!


	6. Space Trip Steps

Note: After listening to all of Knuckles' music from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, I have to say, my brain is pretty much fried. -sigh- So expect the chapter titles to start being Knuckles level music titles.

Note that in my fics, all theme music was written by the character it's associated with. Therefore, It Doesn't Matter, We Can, and Sonic Heroes was written by Sonic, I Am... All of Me, Almost Dead, and All Hail Shadow was written by Shadow, etc etc etc. This is just for the fan-fictions and it makes it funnier to me. Note that I do know who REALLY sang all of them, as I have iTunes and I have all this music in a playlist named "Other Video Game Music". XD

I don't own Sonic, only my OC's and my brain.

Chapter Six: Space Trip Steps

My vision... is clearing... it's like I'm looking through fog... Oh God what's happening to me?!

I thrash and fight, trying desperately to escape whatever Hell this is. Everything around me is stark white, like it's been newly rebuilt from the ground up. I can hear things smashing and can vaguely see amethyst-colored patches around me, like patches of... crystal? CRYSTAL?

No! Why is there crystal here? Get it away, I don't want to see that stuff!

"Scooter... Scooter Hedgehog, calm down! Calm down!"

Ahhhh! I... What's happening to me?

"Scooter! Calm down! NOW!"

My head snaps in the direction of the sound... there's a shadow... a shadow? Shadow... Uncle Shadow? Uncle Shadow!

"Scooter! Calm yourself before you bring the whole place to the goddamn ground!"

Things around me are smashing...

There's the sound of screaming...

People in white are running around in a chaotic mess...

My own tail hits me in the face. Since when was it so long?

But I can't hold up the fighting...

So weak...

I relax and my vision clears fully.

"Where... am I?"

Calm yourself, Scooter, Uncle Shadow is right there and he wouldn't let anything hurt you.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, idiot.

Shut up, brain!

"You're in Station Square Mass General. The hospital. Tails brought you here when you started yelling that you couldn't see. Were you aware that you had psychokinesis?" Uncle Shadow comments coldly.

"No... NO! I don't want psychokinesis! That's how Juice died! Get it out! Get it out!"

Unprepared for this revelation, I begin tearing at my eyes.

Get it out of me! I don't want this power!

No!

"Scooter! Calm down!"

Uncle Shadow grabs my arms and pins them roughly to my sides.

"Scooter. Listen to me. Calm down, and listen to me. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Now that we know you've got it, we can take measures against it's misuse. Ok?"

I'm shivering. I'm terrified. What if I die the same way Juice did? What if I end up destroying half a hospital, and end up dead like him? I don't want to die! I've never died before. It's not like I know what's going to happen.

Uncle Shadow has died before, though... It's in his memories. In his head. He's fallen from space. He's been shot, ripped apart, laser'd, stabbed, bitten by nasty things, thrown out of space shuttles, thrown off of buildings, beat to crap, and drowned before and always managed to get back up somehow.

"Uncle... What's it like to die?"

Uncle Shadow gives me a funny look, like I've just sprouted two extra heads named Bob and Steve. Two extra heads named Bob and Steve who are currently making out in front of my face.

"Well... why do you want to know?"

I don't answer, but I guess my silence is answer enough.

"You're not going to die, Scooter. Your power isn't nearly as high a level as Juice's was. It's powerful, don't deny that, but it doesn't even spit on Juice's boots, I promise. You're not going to die."

"But... death is..."

"An inevitability in everyone who's born, Scooter."

"But you've managed to live for so long..."

"That's because I was created, not born. I'm immortal, but that doesn't mean I _can't _die. It just means I can't die through natural means. If you were to run me through with a sword right now, of course I'd die. I just can't die through old age or disease. And just because I fell 35000 feet from space through the atmosphere once doesn't mean squat. I had a Chaos Emerald on me, after all."

Uncle Shadow releases my arms and sits back on the edge of the hospital bed.

"I promised your father on his deathbed that I'd take care of you, no matter what, and goddammit that's what I'm going to do. I'm Shadow Hedgehog, and I don't back down from a promise I've made."

He looks contemplative and nostalgic for a moment.

"Ever." He adds as a final note.

"Where... are we again?"

"The hospital. Room 143D to be exact."

A flash of something crosses my eyes. What was it? No, come back! I...

Come back...

"Come back..."

"What was that?" Uncle Shadow blinks at me.

"I saw something... it was... I dunno I only saw it for like, half a second. It flashed gold, then disappeared."

He makes a small sound of acknowledgment that I had spoken, then turns his back.

Uncle Tails pokes his head in.

"You okay now?"

I nod. He comes all the way in. He's wearing a helmet, a leather jacket, and a pair of ripped jeans. I see the bulge in the back where his tails are shoved haphazardly into the back of the pants, and the tip of one is flapping over the waistband and it all-around looks pretty silly.

"What's with the 50's biker getup, Uncle?"

"Hmm? Oh, the pants. I had to bring you here on my motorcycle 'cause my plane wasn't up and running yet and if I don't wear pants while on that thing my tails get all caught up in the wheel axles and I end up ripping off fur. Not fun. And the helmet is just so I don't crack my skull open. Safety first, after all." He grins stupidly.

"And the jacket?"

"It gets cold."

"Wait, you have a motorcycle?"

"I built it months ago." He answers distantly. "So, anyway, how are you feeling? I heard crashing and exploding noises."

"I'm okay now." I answer.

"Good. I don't want you to go die and stuff."

"I can feel the love." I reply sarcastically. I vaguely hear Uncle Shadow's cell phone go off, playing some alternative rock song that (according to him) he wrote. _Chaos Control, Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-chaos Control... Chaos control, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-Chaos Control..._

It's a rather stupid ringtone, if you ask me. Of course, mine plays Bananaphone, so it's not much better...

_"_Uh huh... yes... thank you... No, that won't be necessary... oh, alright... yes... Thank you, sir." Uncle Shadow turns to me, a bemused smirk on his face.

"Well, we can get you out of here and back home in a couple of days." Uncle Shadow says. "The contracting company says that our house is finished and we can move back in anytime. They even added a fire extinguisher for free." He says, his voice tinged with laughter as he puts his cell phone away.

"That's great!" Uncle Tails says, _a little too excitedly. _"I mean, aw, I'll miss you guys..." He jokes.

"You just want us out so we won't destroy your personal property anymore." I joke, subtly reminding him of the Hairbrush-in-the-Wall and Chaos-Spear-in-the-Door incidents.

"Guilty as charged."

I laugh, but something in the back of my head won't let me forget that flash of _something _from my head.

"143D..." I mumble...

_OH MY GOD!_

_OH HOLY MOTHER OF HOLY SHIT ON A SANDWICH DON'T LET IT BE TRUE._

I'm in the same room my father and brother were in when they died.

I suddenly snap out of bed and rush for the door.

"Scooter, calm down! Get back here!"

I'm running. Running, running, running... I have no idea where I'm going but I have to get anywhere away from there.

Running faster than the speed of sound, I notice as I shatter the sound barrier like a nuke through wet tissue paper. Then break it again as I go to Mach 2... Mach 3... Mach 4... my legs can't take much more of this but I just keep running.

I vaguely hear the sound of hover-sneakers behind me, and I see a blur of black in my peripheral vision.

My brain says it's a threat, but my soul says it's Uncle Shadow come to save me.

My glasses fly off and are lost, and I squint to see where I'm going.

Suddenly, I don't feel ground under my feet anymore, and my inertia is carrying me through the air as if I'm flying.

I hear the sound of sneakers screeching to a halt.

My inertia should have run out a while ago...

Am I flying on my own?

My wings are extended, gathering up air. All four wings are shot to the sides. My long, gangly devil-tail is shot straight back like a rudder.

The blue orbs on the backs of my gloves are glowing white.

I flap my wings and feel myself lifting.

Is this what it's like to fly?


	7. A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup

Note: Yep. Trippy. Fourth-Wall breakage ahead, just warning you.

Don't own Sonic, but sue me if you wish. Just know that this disclaimer was in place and even if you somehow won the lawsuit, all you'll get is half a can of flat Coke and a bottle of vitamins shaped like dinosaurs.

Chapter Seven: A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup

I can fly. Fly in the sky like the greatest angel.

I'm flying through the clouds, up towards Heaven, where I know my family is waiting...

Just a little more...

Just a little higher...

It's getting a little hard to breathe, but that's OK, because there'll be plenty of air when I reach Heaven...

It's getting hard to see...

And I fall...

_"Don't worry, Scooter. We still love you; it's not like we've forgotten you."_

_"But Dad, I want to be there with you. I want to be an angel."_

_"No you don't. Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Live for a while longer, Scooter, and I promise, we'll be a family again someday."_

_"But..."_

_"Scooter, your place isn't here just yet, little brother. You still have a while to go."_

_"But Juice, I watched you die, and I know you died because you loved me... Why can't I die because I love you?"_

_"I love you too, Scooter. You're the best little brother anyone could ever ask for. You made me feel like I was important, and you still do. But you can't go and kill yourself like that. Suicides end up in Hell, you know that..."_

_"Then why are you here?"_

_"I'm here because I couldn't control what happened. Had I been able to control it, it wouldn't have killed me." _

_"Go on, Scooter."_

_"Mom?"_

_"Go on, live for a little while. Put your powers to good use. Better the world, and become a good person. When all is said and done, you can join us."_

_"Okay, Mom... I'll live... just for you... You... Dad... and Juice..."_

"Scooter, what were you thinking, you could have frigging killed yourself!"

And here I am, three days later, and I've just woken up, and now I have an irate black hedgehog yelling at me.

I tried to go up too far, and I passed out.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Shadow... but... I... I wanted to be with Dad... and Mom..."

"I know you did, but you scared the living shit out of me! That's really hard to do, Scooter, you know. I had to watch you fly higher and higher and you fell so far I didn't think my Chaos Control was enough to get you back up but by some sheer will of God it did."

"I'm sorry... Really I am."

Uncle Shadow flops on the couch beside me and puts an arm over his eyes dramatically, with a loud sigh.

"Just don't ever do it again, or I'll kill you myself." He threatens angrily.

I flutter my wings feebly, but Uncle Shadow grabs my left fore-wing and holds on so tightly it hurts.

"Don't _even _think about it."

"Think about what? I was just making sure you didn't rip my wings off." I reply, wrenching my fleshy flight appendage from his death grip.

"Sorry..." he mumbles. I think he's afraid that I'll fly up and actually die this time.

"Uncle Shadow, I saw them. I saw Mom and Dad and Juice. They talked to me."

Uncle Shadow makes a strangled sound about halfway between a gasp and a gag.

"Oh Jesus... I was afraid this would happen..."

"What?"

"Your powers have given you the ability to speak with the dead. This isn't good. Unless we figure out a way to close off your powers you'll end up dead as a result of the spirits in your head. Shit, shit, shit-shit-shit-shit-shit-holy-mother-of-God-says-SHIT."

"I take it this is a bad thing."

"Yes."

"Well, if I may, Shit, shit, shit-shit-shit-shit-shit-holy-mother-of-God-says-SHIT." I repeat him, falling facedown into his lap like a scared child. I gurgle there for a while.

"I was afraid this would happen. Now you've got spirits running rampant all over the city."

"Can't we call that guy who blesses the house? Exterminator?" My voice was muffled by Uncle Shadow's knees.

"You're thinking 'exorcist'" He replies, "And it's not that simple."

"Why not? Can't you just exercise me?"

"Ex-_or-_cise, Scooter. With an 'o'." He corrects me.

"Whatever."

"Can you please get off my lap now? I swear, Old Lady Meltier is going to look in any second, given our luck, and think the worst."

"I'm on your knees, not your crotch Uncle. I don't see how she could get the two confused. Besides, you're rather comfy. I think I'll just stay right here."

"Get off, Scooter. I can't feel my legs anymore."

"But you're so soft and comfy!" I whine childishly. I love getting on Uncle Shadow's nerves. It's fun, considering he has such a short fuse.

"Scooter! Get off!"

Finally he just yanks me up by my hair and plops me on the other side of the couch.

Ow.

Thanks a lot.

"You're welcome."

Damn, I really have to stop voicing my private thoughts out loud.

"Yes. Yes you do."

Damn it!

"Now, as I was saying. It's not that simple as just hiring a guy to splash you with some water and yammer some blessings. These kinds of spirits, they're inside your very head. Messing with the wiring in there. If we don't act soon, we could be looking at years of insanity."

"How do we get the spirits out of my head?"

"That would take the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds, along with possibly the power of the Master Emerald itself. These spirits are powerful, and they reside inside the very deep, dark recesses of your consciousness. Your very being is due to them. They're holding you together like glue."

"Like freaky, spiritual duct tape, almost."

"Exactly."

"So where's the rest of the Emeralds? I'm honestly not looking forward to a life in a tight jacket while burly nurses force-feed me applesauce." I say dully, trying to give a bored expression with my eyes. I can't see my own eyes, so I'm not sure if it's working.

"They're on Angel Island. Our only obstacle is one particular Guardian who's gotten a bit more stubborn over the years. It's possible he'll try to shoot us on sight at this point."

"So he's crazy?"

"He's a bit... off, it's true. Not truly insane, just insanely protective of what's his. He was a good friend of your father's, but when your father died, he became very withdrawn and depressed. He's never seen off the Island anymore." Uncle Shadow explained.

"Man, you make it sound like he was in _love _with my dad or something." I joke feebly.

"Well, surprisingly, it's implied he at the very least held high respect for your father. I don't know about _love, _but he did feel fierce protectiveness towards the man, that much I know."

"Why am I imagining really bad fan-fiction right now?" I joke.

"It's called the Internet, kid."

I laugh feebly. Man, that was weak.

"So what happens when we land on the Island and we see a big guy with a gun running for us?"

"Surprisingly, he's not all that big. Skinny bloke, last I heard of him." Uncle Shadow mumbles.

"Why do we need the Emeralds? I feel like this is some bad plot-twist thought up by some crazy teenage girl at a computer."

"Like I said, if we just try to get rid of the spirits on our own without the use of the Emeralds, your powers will shut off completely, and you'll fall apart like wet tissue paper in a tornado. All that'll be left is fine Scooter-dust." Uncle Shadow says ominously, wiggling his fingers to symbolize dust scattering over the ground. "And I'm not explaining THAT to your father when I finally do die. 'Hey Shadow, you said you'd take care of my kid.' 'Funny story, Sonic ol' buddy ol' pal, see? He disintegrated.'"

"I get it. So this is about saving your own ass?"

"Every time." He cracks a stupid smirk, and I know he's lying. He cares about me, he's just too much of a big dick to admit it.


	8. Deeper

Note: Ha ha! Bad plot twist ahoy!

I own nothing of Sonic. Sorry. Or Jell-O.

Chapter Eight: Deeper

"Okay, you got your backpack?"

"Yes, Uncle, stop treating me like a little kid."

"Jeez, ok, _sir. _I was just asking."

"I'll shove that _sir _up your ass if you keep it up, Uncle, see if'n I don't!"

He-he, teasing Uncle Shadow is fun.

"Hey, Scooter, I don't _have _to be doing this, you know. I _could _just leave you to go insane and disintegrate into frigging dust. I'm doing this out of the goodness in my heart, here."

"Goodness in your heart-- yeah right! You're doing this because my dad will whoop your ass with his ghostly foot if you don't."

"Your dad couldn't touch me when he was alive; what makes you think he could now that he's been dead for eight years?"

Damn. He has a point.

I follow Uncle Shadow out to Uncle Tails' biplane, which he had ready for us per Uncle Shadow's request.

Does it _have _to still read "SONIC" across the side? It's depressing. I get in and buckle up. Uncle Shadow takes the controls and gives a "fond" farewell to Uncle Tails, which consists of giving a nod and a half-a-wave in his general direction. The plane takes off, and the roaring sound of the engines block out my very thoughts.

I literally can't hear myself think. This sucks. Oh but of course, I can hear Juice's voice just fine, in my head, driving me frigging out of my tree.

_"Brother, don't worry. You'll be fine. We all love you. 'Specially me. You're my brother, and that makes us like, well, brothers. We're close, you and me, and we're like a ham-n-cheese. I'm the ham, you're the cheese. We're close, and I know how much we mean to each other. I won't let you die."_

It's a long ride, damn! I wish Uncle Tails' plane went a little faster. I can already feel the depths of my mind slipping into insanity.

It kind of feels like my brain is sliding down a water slide that's been slicked in half-melted Jell-O. The green kind, not the red kind with the gross chunks of fruit in it. Yuck.

Finally, we land!

_"Are you ready to get fixed up, Brother? We're all waiting for the result."_

Shut up, Juice! I know you're in my head, and stuff, but shut your pie-hole for five minutes! Damn!

Suddenly, lasers start firing at us from seemingly everywhere.

ARGH!

"Scooter!"

I look down.

Holy shit, I got hit in the hip. Now I'm bleeding profusely all over my favorite jeans, and it hurts like a bitch. Like a bitch hitting me with a jackhammer, to be more precise.

"Ow..."

Uncle Scooter hikes me up onto his hip like I was an infant. Well, at least it gets me off my leg.

"Knuckles! Cease fire! We're here in peace! Cease the damn lasers, spiky!"

The lasers cease gradually.

There's a rustling in the bushes.

_"Hey, kiddo, that's my old buddy, Knuckles. He'll help you out."_

Et Tu, Brutus? Or in this case, Dad?

_"Hey kiddo, don't worry about me in your head. I'll shut up soon. Just givin' ya a little heads up." _

Dad, quiet!

"Shadow? Is that you?"

Damn, he is skinny. He's got muscle on him, but he looks like he never eats.

Whoo... I'm starting to feel kinda woozy.

_"That's the blood loss. It'll do that to ya."_

Dad... not the time... Argh... Things are going fuzzy...

"Yes, it's me, and Scooter Hedgehog."

"Who?"

"Sonic's son? The younger one? He needs medical attention, now, and we need to talk to you."

Faster than I can say "What the hell is going on" I'm in a wooden hut being bandaged.

"Sorry for shooting you. I thought you were intruders." The man named Knuckles says with a hint of laughter.

Laughter? LAUGHTER? I just got goddamn shot!

"We came to talk to you about a pressing matter. We need the powers of the remaining Chaos Emeralds in order to restore Scooter's health and sanity. His newfound powers have given him the ability to speak with the dead, and now there are powerful spirits--"

_"Wow, Shadow sure does like to talk. Talk, talk, talk, that's all he's good at. Y'know, I remember one time, I was about your age, maybe a couple of years older, and Shadow nearly talked poor Silver into a coma, you should hear this guy... Man, he can just go on and on and on and on..."_

_"Aw man, you're telling me, Sonic. Remember that one time? It was just after Scooter was born, Shadow nearly yammered 'till my wings fell off."_

_"I know, that was pretty funny, actually, there honey. It kind of reminded me of the time--"_

"SHUT UP!"

Two concerned faces are now staring at me.

"Sorry... Voices in my head..."

Well, that didn't help my case much. Now I have two concerned faces staring at me, each with one eyebrow raised in a "WTF?" expression.

"You know... the spirits? Yammering? They talk. A lot. I was yelling at my mom and dad... They were talking about Uncle Shadow and his tendency to talk too much."

"I do _not _talk too much!"

Both me and Knuckles stare at him with expressions that scream, "Yes, you do."

Knuckles snaps out of it before me.

"Well, Shadow, I'd help if I could but I don't have the Emeralds."

". . . . Come again?"

"I don't have them. You have one, One was buried with Sonic, Rouge stole two, Eggman still has one, and the last two are used for parts of that Sonic statue in town square. Even if we collect the ones from Rouge and Eggman, that only makes four. I'm not digging up no graves, and I'm certainly not going to be the one that convinces the city council to rip out parts of their hero to help a kid." Knuckles explains. "I don't mean to come off sounding like an asshole but there's not much I can do."

"The Master Emerald, then, do you still have that?!" I snap.

"Well, yeah, but it's power is holding up Angel Island at the moment. I can't just completely divert its power, that would destroy it."

"You can always restore the Master Emerald, I've seen you do it like, four times now. Come on. Help him." Uncle Shadow pointed to me desperately. "Or are you that cold?"

"This coming from the supposed 'Ultimate Life Form'." Knuckles mumbles. "Well, alright, but if it breaks, you two are helping me find the pieces, _capisce?" _ He points to each of us in turn, then added, "'Cause if Angel Island goes down too many more times you know Tikal will kick my ass."

"Tikal's been dead for 600 years." Uncle Shadow comments.

"She was a Guardian, so that means her ghostly can of whoop-ass transcends time."

Well, I can tell this isn't going to be pleasant...

_"Aw chill out, bro. It'll be fine. Don't worry, we'll only plague your mind for a while longer. No matter how fun it is."_

"SHUT UP!"


	9. Kick the Rock!

Note: I'm not done yet! There's still more lameness to come!

Don't own Sonic, only Scooter, Juice, and their mum. Nor Cocoa Puffs. Don't own those.

I certainly don't own Dan Green, but I love his work voicing the various parts of Sonic characters we all know and love. Thank you, Dan Green!

Don't own Darth Vader either.

As you can tell, I do a disclaimer for any and all pop-culture references that appear in my work, as I am paranoid and terrified of lawsuits. Thank you for listening.

Chapter Nine: Kick the Rock!

"Well, here we are." Knuckles comments dryly.

I can't see. The light is too bright.

"Has it gotten brighter?" Uncle Shadow asks.

"Yeah, it tends to do that when it senses intruders." Knuckles says distantly, as if this sort of thing happened all the time.

"Like some sort of freaky, spiritual radar." I say.

"Yep."

_"Wow, it never did that when I ever saw it."_

Not the time, Dad!

Argh, these voices are rapidly driving me cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs here. Hey, _you _imagine being a sixteen-year-old, living with the man who killed your father, hearing the ghostly, disembodied voices of your mother, father, and older brother in your head _constantly_, along with the fact that no one else can hear them but you. You'd go nuts too. You really would. Don't frigging give me that look! You would!

"So, how do we stop these incessant yammering voices in my head!"

_"Hey, I resent that, young man. Watch your tone with me. I'm your mother."_

_"Come on, Scooter, cut us some slack. We're your parents, after all."_

_"Come on, little bro, I don't 'yammer', do I?"_

"Damn it! Shut up! Five minutes of peace is all I ask!" I yell, pounding my fist into the side of the Master Emerald.

"Wait, don't!"

Too late. The Emerald falls over onto its side and lays there.

"Fuck." I comment dryly.

_"See what ya did now, bro? You might want to control that."_

_"I hear they have a cream for that now."_

"Dad, shut up!" I literally punch myself in the side of the head. Hey, maybe if I hit myself hard enough, I can develop amnesia and I won't remember any of this. Of course, the same effect can be procured through copious amounts of eggnog, but I'd rather not.

Uncle Shadow does his thing where he pins my arms at my sides forcefully.

"Would you cool it with your insanity fits? I am not going to be the one explaining things to your father and mother when your insanity finally releases them from the depths of your mind and they become disembodied spirits _here, outside _your crazy little angst-ridden teenage brain."

"Hey, _you _imagine being a sixteen-year-old, living with the man who killed your father, hearing the ghostly, disembodied voices of your mother, father, and older brother in your head _constantly_, along with the fact that no one else can hear them but you. You'd go nuts too." I finally voice my thought.

Uncle Shadow reels back in shock and releases my arms as if I'm covered in fire ants. Bitey fire ants. You know, the ones that burn like hell when they bite? Yeah, you know.

"What's this about killing?" Knuckles asks.

Uncle Shadow turns on his heel and runs off, shouting, "The kid's spouting nonsense!" at the top of his lungs as he Chaos Controls away.

"You're not actually spouting nonsense, are you?"

"He killed my father. It was an accident, and he didn't mean it, but it still happened. That's how Dad died, not the way the world seems to think." I say, my voice no higher than a whisper. For once since they've been there, the voices are silent.

The world is under the foolish impression that Dad died fighting for the world in some huge battle for the fate of mankind or something. He was buried with full military honors, and the President himself came to the funeral. The President himself was in tears. And why not? Sonic the Hedgehog, the greatest hero to have ever lived, the "Blue Blur", the one who'd saved the world a thousand times, each more spectacular than the last, and he was dead. Beaten to death. You know that there is no body in that coffin, I hope. When Juice died, he took himself and Dad's bodies with him. They were both incinerated to nothing but ashes in the inferno of Hell.

"Heavy..." Knuckles mumbles.

_"Wow, Shadow's become a wuss."_

_"Nah, don't say that, Engel. Shadow's always had that passionate side of him he doesn't like people seeing. He's ashamed of himself, but for no good reason."_

_"No good reason? Sonic, he killed you with his bare hands."_

_"He didn't mean it, and I forgave him long ago. He's still in pain, and you've got to understand, this is a guy who was locked in a space capsule for fifty years. He's not used to feeling all this emotion. You gotta feel kind of bad for the guy."_

For once, I let the voices talk, not bothering to quiet them. Why should I? It won't make a difference.

_"I guess you're right. I only wish we could at least stop plaguing Scooter... Maybe then Shadow will finally find peace."_

_"We can't. Not without that Emerald."_

"Knuckles... sir. Please. Let me use the Master Emerald and regain my health and sanity. I need to find Uncle Shadow. Please?" I look up at him, my eyes glistening with tears.

He nods slowly. He sees my father in my eyes, I can tell. Like I said, besides the hair, wings, tail, and glasses, I look just like him.

"Of course. Let me set up the power."

It takes all of fifteen minutes for Knuckles to set the Emerald back up again and instruct me as to unlocking its power.

So now I'm sitting right on top of the damned thing, in this funky crossed-legs thing that makes me look like a spiny blue pretzel.

But I have to do this.

For Uncle Shadow.

**"Master Emerald, the great power of Chaos that resides in you, I plead! Take away the power that plagues me, and infuse in me the power to fight the evils of my past. Please, Master Emerald, use me as a vessel for your great blessing!"**

My voice rings out like a clarion call over the Island, sounding strange even to myself.

Was my voice always this deep? Did I always sound like Dan Green doing Darth Vader?

Did I always sound like Uncle Shadow?

**"Please, Master Emerald, jewel of all the power in the Universe! Take my soul as your own, and banish the spirits from my mind! I wish to remove this wretched power from myself, and I wish to bring peace to the mind and body of Shadow Hedgehog. I implore you, gem of all miracles, to grant me this power to keep me whole! I implore!"**

I throw my arms out to the sides, and my hands begin glowing with the psychokinetic energy inside me.

Something is happening, holy shit!

The ground suddenly begins rumbling, and the power in my hands begins to increase until it actually _hurts. _

I can't keep from screaming as my flesh is rent from my bones and bubbles off in streams of pitch.

It's like my own power is consuming me whole, like it did Juice...

God, it's pure agony! It's like someone is tearing open old wounds and pouring salt in there, and then dipping me in a vat of acid while kicking me in the crotch and standing over me laughing about it. "Ha, ha, you're dying."

The towering stone gazebo that houses the Master Emerald shatters into pieces as I rise into the air above it. I vaguely hear Knuckles' surprised "Ku!" sound as he covers his eyes with his arms to protect them from the debris and light. There's light and wind whipping all around me like I'm a center-point, light so bright it makes the sun go, "Daaaaaaaamn!"

_"Hey kiddo! I guess this is goodbye for now. I promise, you'll be fine. I love you, Scooter, and nothing is ever going to change that. I don't want to see you anywhere in Heaven for a long, long time, you got that? I'm basically grounding you from coming in. I'm going to go tell St. Peter to lock the gates if he sees you coming, you got that?"_

I get you, Dad. I'll live... for a long while yet.

My screams echo louder and louder until everything goes black, but I know I'll be alright.

_"Bye, little brother. I love you too. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" _

_"See you, honey. I promise, even if we're not in your head anymore, we'll be in your heart, right?"_

Of course, Mom...

Bye...

I wake up hours later back at home, with Uncle Shadow sitting in his armchair, not looking into my eyes.

"Listen, back there... I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Uncle. You did what you needed to do. But I have good news."

"Hmm?"

"I'm not crazy no' mo'." I say, grinning.

"That's good..."

"Uncle, look at me." I sit up from my position on the couch and reach over, turning his face to look at me. "I'm okay now. I'm not insane, and I'm not psychokinetic anymore. I'm all better, and life can move on."

Is he crying? Holy shit, he's crying. I've never seen Uncle Shadow cry. He's always so freakin' macho.

He collapses into my arms, holding me tightly as if I were made of sand, able to fly away with the softest breeze. I can feel him shiver in my arms. He was truly afraid for my safety.

He looks at me, and suddenly presses his lips on my forehead in a kiss that I'm sure will leave a lips-shaped bruise later. Not to mention is totally embarrassing 'cause I'm a sixteen year old boy and I'll have to go around with lips on my forehead and people will _so _laugh at me. They will, too. "Ha ha, you have lips on your head." It could be worse. He could have actually kissed me. That would have been just _wrong. _He's what, eighty? Kind of creepy...

He breaks off the painful kiss and decides to just flop down into my lap and stay there, like I did with him before. I hear him choke up a sigh, and then he becomes heavy for some reason.

Damn. He fell asleep.

Well, it's better than being kissed.


	10. Fly in the Freedom

Note: Last chapter! Whoo!

Don't own Sonic or any other pop culture references I mention.

This chapter title is Rouge's theme song title from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, because I like that song and it matched the theme of the chapter. And just so you know, this story takes place in the future plzkthx.

Chapter Ten: Fly in the Freedom

It has been many, many years since my harrowing experience as a teenager. I have grown to look like a respectable man, if for the fact I look much like my father, the late Sonic. I can't say I'm a hero, like he was, but I do heroics in my own crazy little way. I'm a cop, actually. Or, I was, before I retired.

Yeah, I'm that damn old.

Uncle Shadow is still alive, amazingly, but then, he's immortal. He'll live long after this world dies.

I have no children, I'm not married, I spent my life single. I don't mind. I don't need to verify my existence through the life of another. I know how alive and well I am. I don't need some simpering woman clinging to me to remind me I'm alive.

Anyway, I spent the remainder of my life as best I could. I wanted nothing more than to be the son my parents always wanted me to be.

I'm not rich, I'm not fabulously wealthy, I'm not even all that successful. I'm successful in my own way.

It's been a long ride, filled with bumps and bruises, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love this life that I've been allotted, and I love being alive.

But...

You know...

I've been alive for a long time now, and one might say I'm getting a little tired of it.

Every once and a while, I'll hear the fleeting laughter outside my bedroom window, or the sound of a smirk through my mind.

I'll see flashes of the time that was, a time when my own powers overwhelmed me.

And I smile.

I smile because I know their waiting.

I smile because I felt their love.

I smile because they forced me to live beyond my wildest dreams.

I am Scooter Takeshi Hedgehog, and it's finally time for me to go.

It's been a great ride, but I think it's time to end it.

Goodbye, Uncle Shadow.

Hello, Mom and Dad.

I'm back. It's been a while.

As I fly up to Heaven, I take one last look at the procession below, carrying a casket towards my grave.

**Scooter Takeshi Hedgehog**

**2008-2108**

**A Great Son, A Great Brother, A Great Friend**

**May His Soul Rest For Eternity in the Heaven We Pray For Him**

**May He Rejoin Fallen Loved Ones, and Live Among Them For Eternity**

**Find Peace**

**R.I.P**

END


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